In this chapter, you learn how to use iPhoto to easily view all the extra information, such as shutter speed and aperture, you recorded when taking your photos and how to mark your imported photos by flagging, rating, and adding keywords to them.

When you take a photograph on a digital camera today, you aren’t just recording an image. You’re also recording dozens of bits of information, or metadata, such as the lens size, the photo resolution, the name of the camera the photo was taken with, the aperture and shutter speed, GPS location coordinates, and more. When you are viewing your photos, this information is of little use. However, when you are organizing and navigating your photos, this information can be invaluable—and you find it all in iPhoto’s Information Pane. You can use the information in the Information Pane when you mark or search through your photos.

iPhoto’s Information Pane

The Information Pane resides on the right side of iPhoto.

Click the Info button in the iPhoto toolbar at the bottom of the screen. Or...

Get to Know the Information Pane

The Information Pane gives you a wealth of information about your selected photo. It also displays lots of information for an event or other group of photos. This chapter explains the Information Pane as it relates to one selected photo. It’s easiest to learn it that way. Then when later chapters discuss albums and events, you’ll already be a whiz at recognizing what the Information Pane is useful for in respect to photo collections.

Exif info: The Information Pane displays the Exchangeable Image File Format (Exif) information, or metadata, of your photo, including the photo’s name, the rating you give it, the time and date it was taken, and a description for your photo.

Faces bar: The Faces bar displays a list of names of any faces in your photo. You can also add more faces to this list.